(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document creation assistance device for storing a first language document and its second language translation, for replacing a selected word at every location with a replacement word once the replacement is designated in one of these languages, and for automatically replacing the translation of the selected word with the translation of the replacement word in the other language.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A document creation assistance device stores documents in two languages, that is a document in one language and its translation in another language. Because of this construction, a document can be generated without the efforts generally taken in creating it from scratch. For this reason, the device itself has attracted much attention.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional document creation assistance device. The conventional document creation assistance device comprises a first language document storage 11, a second language document storage 12, an input unit 13, a first language replacement unit 14, a second language replacement unit 15, and an output unit 17.
The first language document storage 11 stores a first language document. The second language document storage 12 stores a second language document corresponding to the first language document (for example, the second language translation of the first language document).
The input unit 13 comprises a keyboard or the like to input a selected word, replacement word, and moves a cursor to the selected word.
The first language replacement unit 14 finds the selected word inputted by the input unit 13 in accordance with the location of the cursor, and replaces the selected word placed at the cursor with the replacement word in the document from the first language document storage 11.
The output unit 17 comprises a CRT or the like to display the documents from the first language document storage and the second language document storage 12.
The second language replacement unit 15 translates the replacement word in the second language, and replaces the word in the document from the second language document storage 12 corresponding to the selected word at the cursor with this translation.
The operation of the thus constructed document creation assistance device is described hereunder.
The cursor is moved to a word "A" in a first language document, and the word "A" is replaced with a word "B". The second language replacement unit 15 replaces a word "AA" in a second language document which corresponds to the word "A" with a word "BB" which corresponds to the word "B".
According to the conventional document creation assistance device, however, it is required to move the cursor to the selected word at each replacing. Therefore, even when the selected word is used repeatedly in a single document, the replacing must be conducted repeatedly, i.e. the number of times the selected word is used. For this reason, the replacing procedure has been very troublesome conventionally.
The batch processing which has been applied to word processors conventionally could solve the above problem. According to a batch processing function, however, words spelled in the same way as a retrieval word are searched, and every searched word is replaced with another word. Accordingly, when a first language document corresponds to a second language document and the batch processing is applied to the first language document to replace every word spelled in the same way as a retrieval word, i.e. the selected word, homographic words to the selected word are also replaced with the replacement word corresponding to the selected word in the first language document. As a result, the second language document does not coincide with the first language document in their contents.
For example, a Japanese document and an English document are stored as a first language document and a second language document respectively. When "z,1 " (France) is replaced with "" (Germany) in the Japanese document, every "France" is automatically replaced with "Germany" in the English document, since "France" and "Germany" are English translations of "" and "z,3 " respectively.
If "" (French) is included in the Japanese document, it is also replaced with "" (Germany), despite the fact that the word "" (French) is a language name while the word "" (France)is a country name in Japanese. However, "French" which is the translation of "" is not found in the English document. Accordingly, the replacing with "German" is not carried out in the English document, while its Japanese counterpart "" (German) replaces "" (French) correctly. Or even if the replacement were carried out, the replaced English document would not make any sense.
As another example "" in the phrase "" (tall) occurs repeatedly in a Japanese document, and every "" (tall) is replaced with "" in the phrase "" (short) by batch processing.
There are homographic words to the above word "" (tall) in Japanese, such as that in "" (prices of commodities are high ), "" ( temperature is high), "" (scholastic ability is high) When these homographic words are included in the Japanese document these "" s (high) are also replaced with "" (short) together with their homographic "" (tall).
As a further example, an English document and a Japanese document are stored as a first language document and a second language document respectively. In the English document, "set" or "bank" is inputted as the selected word. The English word "set", however, has a number of meanings. When "set" is a noun, it can mean 1. "a group of games forming a unit or part of a match in tennis", 2. "(in mathematics) a collection of things having a common property", 3. "the hardening or solidifying of a liquid substance", 4. "a number of people or things that are grouped together as similar or forming a unit", and 5. "the descent of a heavenly body below the horizon (sun)". When "set" is a transitive verb, it can mean "to put or place." Also as an intransitive verb, "set" can mean 1. "to be brought toward or below the horizon by Earth's movement", and 2. "to become more solid or hardened". The English word "bank" also has a plurality of meanings. When it is a noun, it can mean 1. "a slope, especially at the side of a river", 2. "the rising ground bordering a lake, river, or sea", 3. "the lateral inward tip of a surface (as a road or track)", and 4. "an establishment for keeping people's money". When "bank" is a verb, it can mean 1."to tilt or be tilted sideways in rounding a curve", and "to deposit money in a bank".
Thus, when the selected word has a number of meanings and is replaced with another, it is difficult to replace the second language selected word with the correct translation of the replacement word. As a result, it frequently occurs that the replaced second language document does not make sense.